The "Social Grand Reform Committee," an advisory body under the Prime Minister's Office, will officially launch on January 15. The committee serves as an institutional consultative body where civil society, political parties, and the government jointly discuss reform agendas.
Shin Hyun-sung, director of civil affairs at the Prime Minister's Office, announced the launch during a briefing at the Government Complex Seoul on Saturday.
The committee was established to discuss in a public forum the tasks outlined in a joint declaration issued on May 9 by the Gwangjang Coalition for Political Transition and five political parties—the Democratic Party of Korea, the Rebuilding Korea Party, the Progressive Party, the Basic Income Party, and the Social Democratic Party.
The joint declaration included tasks such as becoming a climate-leading nation, resolving economic and social inequality, guaranteeing basic labor rights, and achieving food sovereignty. The State Affairs Planning Advisory Committee reflected these demands by including "establishment of a consultative body for civil society, political parties, and government" in its national agenda, and conducted an opinion-gathering process over approximately four months starting in August.
On January 2, the "Regulations on the Establishment and Operation of the Social Grand Reform Committee" was enacted as a presidential decree, providing the legal foundation for the committee's launch.
The committee will operate as an advisory body under the Prime Minister, consisting of up to 50 members with one chairperson and two vice chairpersons. The government plans to finalize the committee's composition by the launch ceremony.
The committee will advise the Prime Minister on seven areas: democracy and social justice; inter-Korean peace cooperation and pragmatic diplomacy; education reform; protection of the socially vulnerable; economic justice and livelihood stability; climate crisis response, ecological society, and food sovereignty; and balanced regional development.
The committee will also discuss additional reform tasks deemed necessary by the Prime Minister and chairperson. A government official said, "The launch of this committee has established a foundation for reform demands raised in public squares to be directly connected to the government's official policy discussion framework."
